BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH safety being one of the hallmarks of its operations, Kajola Kristada is this week observing its 10th annual Safety Week under the theme “Managing Stress in the Work Place”.
The week began yesterday (Aug. 14) with some of the employees attending a church service and continued today with an official opening ceremony held at Kajola’s plant.
Safety Coordinator Faith Caines, who stood before the entire staff population of the company, said safety is a major part of the operations there, so much so that it has become “a way of life”.
She informed that the last record Kajola had of operation days without accident was 1031 and it now stands at 1041 as at last Saturday (Aug. 13). This she said is “a very, very great achievement”.
Kajola’s General Manager Jose Rosa, the man from whom the idea of safety week sprang, said the week is designed to create awareness and promote general safety.
“Many people have been here to celebrate and we have done many things here during the Safety Week but the importance of the Safety Week are the employees. We don’t celebrate safety week, we don’t have good records. We celebrate to create awareness but also through the years we have noticed the awareness of safety of our employees. This is the reason for the record that Faith talked about.
“It is very important that all employees participate in activities this week and also it is very important that we continue with the culture that we have…I think when you come here I believe in your mind is, ‘I want to make sure I go home in the same way that I come here in the morning’. And this is important also for us…”
He said as vital as safety is at the workplace, it is equally important in and around the home. Advising his employees to put their safety knowledge to good use around their homes, he suggested that they keep a keen eye on the practices of those around them and offer correction when necessary.
For more than five years, Dr. Andrew Holness has been making presentations during Kajola’s Safety Week observation and today was no different.
Expounding on the theme, he spoke of the difference between stress and stressors and pointed out the emotional and physical manifestations of stress. The Dr. said some stress is good especially when occurring over a short period of time but indicated that it often becomes problematic when it is chronic.
The physician did not leave the environment without fielding a number of interesting and important questions, some of which drew unrestrained laughter from his attentive audience.
Safety Week continues tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday with the employees receiving massages as part of their stress management routine and sometime between then and Friday, they would also be engaged in yoga sessions.
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